Dispatch #15 - South Yuba River, CA
Book Tour Updates + Some Good News + Nude Beaches and Enough Swimming Holes For Everyone
Good morning from a BLM campground outside of Bishop, California, quietly tucked away in the Eastern Sierra. There are forty-nine sites at Horton Creek, in the shadow of Mount Morgan and Mount Tom, a pair of thirteen-thousand-foot peaks still carrying snow in the last week of June. The namesake creek runs through the campground, flowing fast enough to become the backdrop to every conversation — the soundtrack to watching the sliver of moon fall behind Mount Morgan, the Milky Way growing richer by the minute.
All this for the steep price of $10 a night.
I woke up early to watch the sunrise from my tent (too hot for a fly cover), then to scribble reflections and gratitudes onto paper. It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks with the launch of The Enduring Wild, and I felt the need to slow down and thank whatever gods may be for everyone who helped bring this book into the world. Watching the sky brighten through a mesh-walled tent seemed like a good place to do just that.
Book Tour, Sales and Podcasts
The first two book events have been a feast of good conversation and celebration, first at Parks Project and then a standing room only crowd in Bishop last Saturday night (where we raised $1700 for Friends of the Inyo!). The next tour stop will be a special homecoming at Vroman’s Bookstore this Tuesday - a place I have spent dozens of hours perusing books and listening to Mr. Steve read to my kids when they were little. I’ll be in conversation with Jaclyn Cosgrove of the LA Times.
A special thank you to every single person who has ordered a copy of The Enduring Wild, whether through my website, Amazon, or anywhere else. We are currently sitting at #1 in Western Travel new releases on Amazon, #2 in Environmentalism, and #2 in Nature Writing. And we've been holding steady in the top 25 for all Nature Writing — what a surreal gift to see my book listed alongside Robin Wall Kimmerer, Edward Abbey, and Annie Dillard! Thank you, truly, for helping this book find its place in the wild.
I’ve also been recording a flurry of podcasts. For something short and sharp, I’d recommend the California Sun (the intro alone is worth it). For something more philosophical, I recommend my conversation with Ned Weidner on The Wild Lab.
Good News and Bad News
By now I’m sure you’ve heard the good news. The potential sale of 1.2 million acres of BLM land did not make it into the BBB before its passage in the Senate. It took a Herculean effort from a host of recreation users, conservation groups, and even celebrities from Billy Eilish to Joe Rogan. It is supremely ironic to celebrate getting to keep something we already had, but a win is a win for public land lovers out there.
Of course, this is one piece of good news resting on a layer cake of environmental destruction. The Roadless Rule is being repealed. NEPA is getting gutted. Extraction and rampant logging is being fast-tracked. BLM staffing and funding are being slashed. Monument reductions are coming. But those stories are for another day.